MALCOLM X
CAUSE OF DEATH
GUNSHOT WOUNDS
DATE OF ASSASSINATION
21 FEBRUARY 1965
LOCATION
NEW YORK, NY, USA
ASSASSINS
THOMAS HAGAN, THOMAS JOHNSON AND NORMAN BUTLER
On 21 February 1965, in the Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan, armed men shot 39-year-old activist Malcolm X 15 times. He had been addressing the Organization of Afro-American Unity, a group fighting for the human rights of African Americans. He knew his assassins, and he knew his life was in danger.
Malcolm X rose to prominence as a member of the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist religious movement. Magnetic, articulate and unafraid to speak out, he had been right-hand man to the organisation’s leader, Elijah Muhammad. But a rift had started to emerge between the two men, and Malcolm X had broken away from…